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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

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Synopsis:As the new girl at the elite St. Sophia’s boarding school, Lily Parker thinks her classmates are the most monstrous things she’ll have to face…

When Lily’s parents decided to send her away to a fancy boarding school in Chicago, she was shocked. So was St. Sophia’s. Lily’s ultra-rich brat pack classmates think Lily should be the punchline to every joke, and on top of that, she’s hearing strange noises and seeing bizarre things in the shadows of the creepy building.

The only thing keeping her sane is her roommate, Scout, but even Scout’s a little weird—she keeps disappearing late at night and won’t tell Lily where she’s been. But when a prank leaves Lily trapped in the catacombs beneath the school, Lily finds Scout running from a real monster.

Scout’s a member of a splinter group of rebel teens with unique magical talents, who’ve sworn to protect the city against demons, vampires, and Reapers, magic users who’ve been corrupted by their power. And when Lily finds herself in the line of a firespell, Scout tells her the truth about her secret life, even though Lily has no powers of her own—at least none that she’s discovered yet…

Firespell started too slow for me. I thought it spent too much time on Lily getting to school and getting settled. Then we have to meet the typical brat pack of mean girls. Then we go through what the food is like and, blah, blah, blah. That stuff doesn't interest me. I'm an action girl so get on with it!

Let me get this out there. My main complaint about Firespell is that the action started too late in the book. From the synopsis I thought we would be getting to the fighting and supernatural beings much sooner. We didn't. However, when we did it became fun.

Lily's friends are part of this elite group with special powers that they use to fight against other young people who want to use kids with powers for bad stuff. There's a werewolf thrown in but there isn't much about his were-ness in this book. And there weren't a bunch of demons and vampires so I was a bit disappointed about that. I imagine we'll get more of that stuff in the sequel.

The main characters are fantastic. Lily is strong, smart and creative and her reactions to her situations ring true. She is going through an emotional roller coaster between being seemingly abandoned by her parents, finding out they have been lying to her, trying to fit in, finding out she's hanging out with a magical bunch, dealing with magically powered enemies, checking out a little romance, and finding out she's got some powers of her own.

Her best friend Scout is fun, sassy, loyal and sarcastic, and while she is tough dealing with the supernatural punks, she has her own abandonment issues and a vulnerable side. The friendship between her and Lily is wonderful. Not perfect - they have their ups and downs - but real.

The relationships were my favorite part of Firespell. The budding romances were realistic and not the 'fall madly in love and I will die for you at first sight' kind of stuff.

When it gets going, Firespell is a great adventure. The ending is fun and exciting and certainly sets up the sequel. The final pages introduce a new character that should be an interesting addition for the subsequent books.

I enjoyed the characters so much that I will be happy to read the next in the series, Hexbound, coming out January 2011. I wish this one didn't feel like a such a 'set up' book. I would have liked more paranormal and action but it was a good read that I recommend with the caveat that the action takes a while to get started.

If you're willing to stick with it,and lots of folks don't mind a slower start, Firespell delivers a lot of fun and thrills with a dash of romance for spice!The Cover: Again, I'm never a big fan of seeing a model's face - I like to use my imagination for my characters. But that aside, it's dark and mysterious and overall, I like it.

First Lines:They were gathered around a conference table in a high rise, eight men and women, no one under the age of sixty-five, all of them wealthy beyond measure. And they were here in the middle of Manhattan to decide my fate.

Good. I'm intrigued to find out what a bunch of wealthy old farts decide about her fate.

I've read couple of reviews on this but I don't think the book would intrigue me much. Though I'm glad that the action somewhat happened, even though it came out late then you expect it to be. I'd read couple of books, where I keep on waiting for something to happen, yet nothing happen till I reached the very last page. That was much more frustrating.

I Have Been Wanting To Read This Book For Some Time Now. The Cover Looks Amazing And It Just Sounds Like AN Awesome Book.The Host By Stephanie Meyer Started The Same Way For Me. The First 7-8 Chapters Were Bland But The Rest Of The Book Was Really Good And I So Didn't Want It To End.

I have been getting interested in this book recently. I don't really mind a slow start. It seems like a lot of the books I've been reading lately have had slow starts. The problem though is that they continue to disappoint even when the action picks up. Sounds like this is not the case with Firespell. Great review!

Did you link me up? I was all set to link up, and what do I see but 'Book Rat' ;)I agree completely. There was a fair bit of waiting, and a fair bit of the predictable. But good and quick nonetheless, so still worth a read.Good job!

The first book in a new series can be a little dry at times, but I don't know....I still have high hopes for this one (glances at copy in TBR mountain)....glad to read your concerns though! At the very least, I am better prepared for it if I agree on the slow start...happy reading!

Great review. The setup in the book was a little long but since its the first in the series hopefully the rest will be able to just jump right in and skip most of that. I did end up really liking the book and am looking forward to Hexbound. Just wish it wasnt so far off.

Wow, there are so many book series out these days. I was curious about this one, nice review. Glad to hear that it gets really good. Sounds a bit like Fallen by Lauren Kate, might read this when I'm in the mood for a sort of school drama.

Read Firespell in one big gulp and am now awaiting the next installment by Chloe of Lily and Scout. I think that it is a wonderful YA book and even though myself am no longer a Young Adult still enjoyed the teenage characters and looking forward to more of their adventures. Thanks for the review and hope it creates a bigger fan base for Chloe Neill as she deserves to be widely read...If I win the Mega Giveaway am glad to see that it is one of the books listed would love a copy to share with a friend!!!jackie b central texas

Thanks for the detailed review! If I were to pick up this book, I'd put it right back on the shelf because the cover probably wouldn't interest me very much. But reading your review, I think I'd enjoy it for the interesting, realistic relationships as well.

Hm, that one is on my TBR short stack, for some time before BEA... After your review, I'm glad it's not all on top of it, but rather to the end. At the moment, I really need fast reads with action and not too many introducions on the first pages. :-)

That's the thing about book series. If it isn't handled well, the first book always feels like a world building / set up. That is what separates the good from the bad .. How well that first book is. :)

A slow beginning usually screams "bad book!" to me, so however great this book sounds, I have a feeling I don't want to read it! Great review, you hit everything about the book (I think, I haven't read it..)

This review was well done. I don't mind not having the action/ supernatural aspects up front, so will definetly look out for firespell- I like the name scout.I like the cover as well especially the colour and key. I think it is pretty.

I too get a little antsy when it takes forever to get to the interesting part of the book. I really enjoyed your review as I've heard mixed reviews on Firespell. And now I know why they were mixed I'll definetly remember to keep the slow beginning in mind if I pick this one up!

I whole-heartily concur! The action started too late and too much time was spent on Lily get settled in. I agree that the characters are wonderful and I will looking forward to the next book in the series as well! :) Yay! for Blog with Bite Books! :D

Thanks for sharing about the beginning of this book. If I know that going into it, it will make it easier for me. I'm interested in this book. Funny thing that disappointed me about it when I saw it - the size of it. It's not as big as other books seem to be these days - I don't mean in length I mean in width. Just a weird thing that I found different about it.

Oh, no! A slow start! I'm not the best at plowing through the slow starters (on average, it takes about three false starts when the plot is slow going), but for this one, I'll try my hardest! I'm just glad I have advance notice that it takes a while to get going.I'm not crazy about the whole boarding school bit, I feel that it's a little over played, but again, this sounds like a good read, so I'll try it. :)

Knowing the slow start, I feel more compelled to peek at the last few pages every once in a while. It's such a bad habit -_- The covers are absolutely gorgeous. That fuels me enough to read this the second I get it :)

The cover is what draws me into this book, but I normally tend to put books down if it's slow in the beginning. Hopefully I'll be able to get thought it because you made it sound pretty good other than that.

While I do LOVE my action, I really don't mind when books go a little slow. Provided I'm not bored out of my mind. So I'm definitely interested in checking this out. I've been intrigued for a while - great review! I didn't realise it was in a series of books either... I'm always happy to see a book will have others to follow, mainly because I'm greedy =D

Good review, very detailed. I've seen this book advertised on blogs but I'm not so sure. I like the cover and first lines (and your 'wealthy old farts' comment made me laugh) but I like action in my books so I'm not too sure. I do like the simpler romance though, so that sounds good.